


Here, There Be Vulcans

by shivadyne



Series: Pre-Reform Vulcan AU [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Pre-Reform Vulcan, Suicidal Thoughts, T'hy'la, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-01 07:29:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4011133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shivadyne/pseuds/shivadyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Okay… M-class planet, inhabited, dangerous. Fan-fucking-tastic, glad that I can always rely on the detailed reports from the Starfleet admiralty,” he hissed, taking a look at the additional details made by a small landing party of scientists. “Great. I’m stuck in a dangerous desert climate with what are likely to be hostile natives, but at least the atmosphere is fucking breathable.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shuttlewrecked

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: there is going to be violence, but it's going to be mostly canon-typical.
> 
> with that out of the way, i got the idea a little while ago to write something set in pre-surak vulcan. in this setting, jim's slowly working his way up the ranks of starfleet. spock is located on vulcan, which has never joined the federation as the people are too violent and aggressive. they don't depend v heavily on logic and are very passionate about, well, everything, like dangerously so i guess???
> 
> spock understands an outdated form of standard because of his mom.
> 
> that's about it. if i got any information in this wrong, feel free to tell me.

“Fuck, why’d the higher-ups make the decision to send me on this mission alone?” Jim shouted as the small shuttle shuddered, shaking beneath his feet. He stood on unsteady ground, but remained at the helm as he tried to safely land the damn thing. His eyes darted around from the warning signs to the flickering red light (courtesy of the screeching alert system) before they thankfully landed on the navigation console. The sensor showed a blinking dot that was his shuttle, still currently hurtling off into space with no real destination, and to his relief, a nearby planet to land on.

“Hell yes, holy fuck, c’mon baby, just work with me for a little bit longer and then we can fix you back up,” he crooned to the ship, already working to turn the shuttle around and make sure it was hurtling towards the planet instead. He managed to gain some control before he crashed onto the surface, letting loose a stream of curses so long and angry that even his mother would’ve been impressed.

The shuttle lurched to one side, jerking Jim roughly to the side, before gravity took hold and it finally settled. When it finally stopped rocking from side to side, Jim peeled himself off the console he’d become unhappily acquainted with. With a wince, he sank down into the chair and checked himself over for injuries. There were only bruises and scrapes, complementing his shattered pride quite nicely. 

“Alright, let’s learn a little more about this planet so we can fix you up afterwards,” he mumbled absentmindedly, stroking the side of the shuttle in an oddly affectionate manner. He typed in the name, Vulcan apparently, after a quick glance at the coordinates and a little bit of sorting around in his head; he was pleased that he’d made the decision to do a little research before this mission went to hell (as they usually did when he was on them).

“Okay… M-class planet, inhabited, dangerous. Fan-fucking-tastic, glad that I can always rely on the detailed reports from the Starfleet admiralty,” he hissed, taking a look at the additional details made by a small landing party of scientists. “Great. I’m stuck in a dangerous desert climate with what are likely to be hostile natives, but at least the atmosphere is fucking breathable.”

And with that, he stood from the chair, closed out all of his tabs, and grabbed his phaser. He set it to stun and placed it in his holster, shoving his communicator and tricorder into his pockets. He held his hand over the scanner and waited patiently for the door to slide open.

He stepped outside, listening carefully for the sound of the door sliding shut behind him. Taking a quick look at his surroundings, he took in the rocky terrain and the sight of sandy dunes far off in the distance. It was swelteringly hot, the sun beating down on his back, and there was really nothing but sand and rocks to see for miles. He had eventually grown tired of gazing off into the desert; his eyes landed upon the expansive orange sky, streaks of yellow running through the vibrant color. There was a shocking difference from Earth’s blue, cloudy skies. He grinned at the sight.

“Guess I'm not in Kansas anymore. Where should I head first? To that pile of rocks or to that pile of what appears to be even _more_ rocks?” he asked himself before shrugging his shoulders and heading off to the right.

Jim eventually pulled off his red Starfleet jacket, still wearing the black undershirt beneath it. He wrapped it around his head, shielding his face from the harsh sun and the sand that landed in his eyes. He walked for what felt like hours, sweat sticking to his skin and leaving his clothes plastered to his body. He refocused on his surroundings while yearning for a tri-ox compound, swerving abruptly to the left when he saw what appeared to be a huge structure of rocks.

Eventually, Kirk approached the outcropping of large, jagged rocks. He noticed that the rocks hid what appeared to be a small desert alcove and he was relieved at the idea of sitting beneath the shade that the alcove would provide him. As he approached, he tensed up with the sudden, uncomfortable feeling of being watched. Cautiously removing the phaser from his holster, he continued to walk forward while his eyes darted around for signs of life.

When a large, humanoid form came rushing at him with a snarl, obviously with the intent to harm him, he reacted without thinking and stunned him. 

The person collapsed to the ground a mere foot away and Kirk cautiously approached, turning him over to get a look at him. He saw a humanoid face with a pair of pointed ears and a set of upswept eyebrows, their short, black hair styled somewhat messily into a bowlcut. He quickly checked for a pulse and half-dragged, half-carried the Vulcan into the alcove, setting him against a wall of rock before backing up a couple steps. 

Jim took a deep breath before training his phaser on the man’s unconscious form.

It took a while for him to wake, but eventually he seemed to have been roused from unconsciousness. Kirk noticed the twitching of his fingers, the slight changing in his breathing, and as a pair of eyes opened, they narrowed at the sight of Jim.

“Uh, hey, I don’t know if you can understand me, but I come in peace,” Jim tried to explain, though he didn’t lower his phaser. He resisted the urge to smirk at being able to say that last bit; he’d always wanted to get the chance to do so. He winced as the Vulcan’s anger merely increased in intensity and added, “Sorry for stunning you by the way. You totally surprised me, man.”

“Ponfo miran,” he spat back angrily, glaring and attempting to rise. He stumbled momentarily, but regained balance quickly by pressing a hand against the rocks behind him for support. Jim merely took a step closer and pressed the phaser against his chest; the Vulcan sat back down while gazing at it warily, but the heat of his glare made it easy to tell that he was simmering in uncontained rage.

“Okay, I can guess that wasn’t anything kind,” Jim surmised, frowning down at the Vulcan; he seemed to be hissing explicitives at him, though he wasn’t sure on the exact words. Jim had a sense for that kind of thing, formed from years of bar-fights and his attempts at getting a rise out of the other cadets. He rolled his eyes and said, “Chill the fuck out, pal.”

When that induced even more growling and what appeared to be an eye-twitch, he inquired, “Can you understand me, at least?”

“Yes,” the Vulcan admitted reluctantly, but before Kirk could speak, he added, “For the most part. I do not understand some of your words, as they appear to deviate from the version of Standard I am familiar with.” 

“Thank god,” Jim breathed, releasing a sigh of relief. At the inquiring look he received, a far cry from the discontent that he had been faced with earlier, he winced and reluctantly explained, “I kind of lost my universal translator… somewhere. I’m not sure who decided they had to be so tiny. It’s a very flawed design. Anyways, translators aside, what I’d like to know is… who the fuck are you?”

“I am Spock,” the Vulcan, Spock, divulged while pointedly looking at the phaser that remained aimed in his direction. He still looked pissed off, but made no move to stand. If eyebrows could judge, then Jim was certain that this guy’s eyebrows were doing an impressive job at it right now. When Jim merely stared at him without making any movements, he sighed and said, “Lower your weapon. I will bring no harm.”

“Jim Kirk. I’m... extremely reluctant to believe you, but ah, what the hell, I’ve done worse,” Jim decided abruptly, backing away a couple steps and lowering his weapon. He still remained aware, however, and kept his eyes trained on the Vulcan.

“Is that so?” he asked, slowly approaching. His expression was open and curious, betraying none of the previous hostility. It put Kirk on edge, but he stood his ground and watched as the Vulcan continued to shorten the distance between them.

The expression changed abruptly. Smirking, Spock hissed, “You should not have.” 

Before Jim could raise his phaser and shoot, however, Spock raised his hand and Kirk felt a sharp pinch to his neck. He immediately began to lose consciousness, but just before he did, he thought he heard a panicked shout. It sounded like the word “t’h’yla”.


	2. Vulcan Soulmates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay wow i am so glad that people are excited for this story??? thank you all for commenting and giving kudos.
> 
> i'm stuck on a bit of a snag working on the plot so i might not update as quickly until i can figure out where i want to go with this in a little more detail. i'm sure spock doesn't seem very aggressive or passionate, really, but that's mainly because i haven't really put him in a situation where he can be.
> 
> if there are any errors, feel free to inform me.

Jim was roused by the sound of voices. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing steady, patiently listening to see who was speaking. Since he had just been knocked out, it was very likely that his captor had taken away his phaser and everything else he had on him.

“Spock, baby, you have to calm down,” said a woman, sounding gentle yet firm. He heard footsteps, but they stopped as he heard the sound of a cabinet being opened. The woman sighed, though it was hard to hear, and hesitantly asked, “Are you absolutely sure you’re right?”

“Mother, I felt his mind. I have no doubts that he is my t’hy’la,” Spock replied, sounding distressed. He heard the sound of footsteps again. They stopped and he heard Spock take a deep breath. Distantly, Jim wondered if there were just thin walls or if he was in the same room as the two. “I do not know how to deal with this situation. What shall I do? I nervepinched him, Mother.”

When no one spoke for a few moments, Jim cautiously opened one of his eyes. He opened the other and sat up quietly, eyes scanning the room in the hopes of it giving him any idea of his whereabouts. He could tell he was in someone’s room. There was a large bookshelf across from the bed, a chess-set placed near it, and a desk right next to the doorway. It was covered in papers and books, all written in a language that he didn’t know. He realized that there was only a thin, beige piece of cloth in the place of a door, explaining the closeness of their voices.

“Well, Spock, you’ll just have to talk to him,” Spock’s mother told him, her voice laced in heavy amusement. There was the sound of a chair scraping and the clinking of glass. She laughed. “You worry too much. I’m sure he’s awake by now. Why don’t you bring him something to eat and drink?”

Jim, having become distracted by the sound of voices, suddenly realized that he hadn’t checked for his phaser, tricorder, and communicator. He quickly checked to see if they were on his person and found that he was right on one account. His phaser was no longer within the holster, but he still had his tricorder and communicator. He knew his communicator wouldn’t likely be useful, but he might need his tricorder on an unknown planet.

In his distraction, he hadn’t heard Spock reply to his mother and looked up at the sound of the Vulcan entering through the door.

“Greetings,” Spock said, very formally. He was gripping the tray in his hands very tightly and stood ramrod straight. Jim watched him bring the food over to the bedside table, leaving it there.

“Hey Spock,” Kirk addressed him, leaning forward with a grin that was all teeth and no pleasure. He smirked when Spock recoiled at the sight, obviously unsure of how he’d react to having been knocked out. “It’s always nice to see a friend, especially when they knocked you unconscious the moment you lowered your weapon.”

“I apologize,” he stiffly informed Jim, eyes trained on a point in the distance and arms held behind his back. “I was planning to knock you unconscious and then escape once I had realized you were not hostile. When I nervepinched you, we made skin-on-skin contact and I briefly touched your mind. I have come to believe that we are t’hy’la as our minds are compatible in the highest percentile.”

“Okay, I don’t really believe that you planned to escape. Sorry, it’s nothing personal. You lied to me earlier and I’m not going to trust you 100% for a while,” Jim admitted, reaching over to take the food on the table. He brought out his tricorder, unhappily scanning his food. Having a ton of allergies sucked and there was always the possibility of being poisoned. As an afterthought, he inquired, “What do you mean by t’hy’la?”

“I will try to come up with an explanation in Standard. It is… difficult to translate some Vulcan phrases properly,” Spock informed him, looking curiously at the tricorder in his hand. “What is that?”

“It’s a tricorder,” Jim told him, sliding it back into his pocket as he dug in. Seemed like whatever they gave him was harmless, at least, and the fruits were very sweet. Noticing Spock’s confused glance in his direction, he explained, “It has a lot of functions, but it’s mostly used for exploring unfamiliar places and recording data. Doctors and engineers have their own tricorders with different uses.”

“Fascinating,” the Vulcan said, his eyes lit up in a way that Jim knew very well. If he didn’t keep his eyes on his tricorder, he knew he’d likely find Spock examining it later on. 

Spock suddenly straightened up from where he had been leaning over Jim. “Additionally, I wished to inquire as to your reasons for landing on our planet. Other than my mother, there are very few humans that have found their way here and you were very close to our tribe’s land when I discovered you.”

“Your mother’s a human?” he asked, incredulously. Spock had given him a lot of information to sift through, but that one was one of the most surprising parts. He had no idea any humans would willingly inhabit the planet. He wondered if she had arrived on a mission, just as he had.

“Yes.”

“Okay… you wanted to know why I’m here, right,” Jim muttered, running his fingers through his hair and huffing in annoyance. “I can’t give away too much explanation because of all this bureaucracy crap, but I was meant to land on a nearby planet to take readings and do scans and shit. I had to check if the place was safe anymore, essentially.” 

“Where?”

“Delta Vega,” Jim answered, grinning. “I was prepared to land on a cold, icy planet and I ended up on a hot, desert one. Kinda figured that I went a little off course, but that’s kind of normal for me whenever I get sent on missions alone.”

“You were sent to a likely dangerous planet alone,” Spock realized, angrily. Towering over his seated form, he asked, “Why?” 

“The admiralty is full of a bunch of pricks, except for Pike, and they hate me,” Jim said, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s no big deal so don’t get all upset over it or anything. I pissed them off a week ago and I’m guessing that’s why they sent me on this mission. I’m pretty sure Barnett wanted to kill me ‘cause I’ve never seen the guy more angry. It was hilarious.”

“Jim, your dialogue is not assisting me in being any less angry,” Spock carefully told him. Jim looked up and could see he was livid, but the reason why didn’t seem to compute for him. Sensing Jim’s lack of understanding, he explained, “It has to do with you being my t’hy’la, Jim. I will endeavor to explain it to you.”

“Go right ahead,” Jim encouraged him. Having finally finished his food, he placed the tray back on the bedside table.

“T’hy’la, for a human, would be the equivalent of a friend, a brother, and a lover combined. For a Vulcan, however, it can also have a deeper meaning. It can stand for being extremely mentally compatible with each other. With your t’hy’la, a bond can naturally form without either party making any move to do so,” Spock told him, flushing slightly green as he was faced with the incredulous look on Jim’s face.

“Are you saying we’re Vulcan soulmates?” he asked him, honestly floored by this explanation.

“…Yes?”

“Holy shit, I have to tell Bones. I can’t even make this shit up,” Jim muttered to himself, grabbing his communicator. Spock gave it a pained look that he ignored. Glaring down at the communicator in his hand, he said, “He’s gonna kill me for not checking in with him, especially when he learns I’m not even on Delta Vega.”


	3. Calling Dr. McCoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have the feeling this story is gonna be a long one. 
> 
> i spent a while working on worldbuilding and ive made the decision that jims just about finishing up with all his credits in the command track so he's been given the okay to be sent on missions, just not assigned to a starship yet. there is a lot of information so i'm trying not to shove all of it in there at once.
> 
> if there are any errors or something i should change, feel free to inform me. thanks for the kind feedback you've all given so far!

“Where in the Sam Hill are you at, Jim?!” was the lovely greeting that Jim received upon calling up his friend. Spock maneuvered around the end of the bed to stand next to him, likely wanting to eavesdrop more noticeably. “You said this was just a quick in-and-out mission, said it’d take only three or four days at the most, but I haven’t heard from you in over a week! What the hell’s got you so preoccupied that you can’t leave me a message?”

“Aw, Bones, did you miss me? Is that worry I hear?” Jim teased, relaxing instantly as his friend’s concern and irritation washed over him. Spock glared at the communicator, but made no move to interrupt the conversation occurring between the two. “You know, my shrunken little heart must’ve grown three sizes just from hearing your mother henning.”

“Don’t play games with me, kid,” the doctor grumbled, muttering some unkind words about Jim’s character under his breath. Jim, the saint that he was, deigned to ignore every one of those words. “Did you make it to Delta Vega or not?”

“Uh, define make it,” Jim hedged, juggling his communicator from palm to palm. 

“You’re a damn fool, Jim. What mess did you make for yourself this time, huh?” McCoy demanded. There were the distant sound of voices for a moment, but then there was some shouting and likely an unjustified threat of hypos for months. It got silent real fast. “Did you piss off some aliens? Get lost? Forget your PADD again for the hundredth time this month? Get a case of Andorian shingles?”

“Okay, first of all, I do not forget my PADD that much,” Jim complained, feigning offense. He glanced over in Spock’s direction, unsurprised to see that he was still towering over him and listening in on the conversation. There was a look of irritation on his face, but he hadn’t done anything to warrant it so maybe he was just offended by Jim’s existence or something. “And no, I don’t think I pissed any aliens off… yet.”

“Yet,” his friend repeated, flatly.

“Okay, okay, filling you in now,” Jim said, hurriedly. He knew danger when he heard it and if he didn’t tell him what was going on right away, his friend would trace the call, get permission for a shuttle to Vulcan, and land planetside just to kick his ass. “No, I didn’t land on Delta Vega. I landed on Vulcan, wandered around in the desert, stunned a Vulcan, got knocked out, and ended up here with what is apparently the Vulcan equivalent of my “soulmate”, according to him.”

“I’m just going to ignore the part about Vulcan soulmates because I don’t want to know. I’m getting permission from Pike to go get your reckless ass, so don’t fucking go anywhere until I get there,” McCoy decided, probably giving the communicator in his hand a death glare. Jim noted that Spock looked pretty offended at that idea. Only Bones could piss off the aliens without even being anywhere near them. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m staying put,” Jim groused back, rolling his eyes. Before he went and ended the call, he added, “And okay, you got me, I did forget my PADD again.”

Bones laughed sharply before the call cut out.

“Who was that individual?” Spock asked him, obviously vexed by some part of their conversation. There was something almost envious about him, a flicker of unsuppressed anger in his eyes, but it passed before Jim could name the emotion for sure.

“Uh, Bones. Well, his name’s actually Leonard McCoy. He’s a doctor at Starfleet and we’re rooming together. He threw up on me on the shuttle over to the Academy; we bonded over a shared love of snark and alcohol,” Jim explained quickly. Something he said seemed to appease the Vulcan momentarily because he stopped looming over his shoulder and glaring at everything in sight. “And I mean the real stuff, man, not that synthehol crap.”

“Synthehol?” he repeated, questioningly.

“I’ll explain later. I still have to call Pike and explain to him how I managed to lose a shuttle in the middle of a desert when I was supposed to be knee-deep in ice and snow,” Jim told him, brusquely. He pulled out his communicator and called him up.

“Kirk, what’d you do now?” Pike tiredly asked, likely already buried in mountains of paperwork, a lovely part of bureaucracy, and not looking for more. Sighing deeply when he received no answer, he informed him, “I’ve already got a request from your roommate, Doctor Leonard McCoy, to head on over to Vulcan and I want answers immediately.”

“Alright, fine, I’m making an unofficial report to you from on Vulcan then, sir. One of the Vulcans is still in the room with me, but I’m without a PADD so you’ll just have to deal with it.”

The only response from Pike was a long string of curses that was soon followed by the sound of someone hurriedly scouring their drawers, likely for a pen. Jim smirked at his communicator, always ready to piss off the old man. Favorite admiral or not, he was practically asking for Jim to get back at him for demanding answers like that when it was pretty obviously off-record.

“I was heading over to Delta Vega when the shuttle started to malfunction,” he admitted, laughing when he heard Pike let out a groan. “I checked everything over and found a problem with the power systems. I made an attempt to fix it, but since I was kind of, you know, alone on the mission and all, it was kind of clear that I had to find somewhere to land quickly and solve the problem.” 

“Did you solve the problem?”

“Since I didn’t have anything to solve the problem, which I’d like to remind you was the main power system nearly giving up on me, no, I didn’t,” Kirk explained, annoyed. “I landed and decided to explore a little planetside to see if I could find anyone to help out.”

“You just stomped all over the Prime Directive, didn’t you,” the admiral said, not even bothering to pose it as a question.

“Not an officer just yet, sir,” Jim replied, cheerfully. Pike just groaned loudly and ended the communications between them.

“You did not say anything about your shuttle malfunctioning when you explained your landing earlier,” Spock pointed out after a few moments of silence between the two of them. He sounded concerned. “Are you unharmed?”

“Yeah, all I got were scrapes and bruises from being tossed around in that hunk of beautifully designed metal,” Jim reassured him. He scooted over and made room for Spock to sit on the side of the bed, patting the area next to him. Spock sat, his unblinking stare remaining fixated on the human in a way that reminded Kirk of a cat. He smirked and added, “I can’t say the same for you, though. You took that phaser pretty hard, man.”

“Did you not faint soon afterwards?” the Vulcan asked him, clearly amused.

“It wasn’t fainting! I was knocked out.”

“Indeed,” Spock agreed. His smirking face was the only thing that gave him away for his attempts at baiting him.

They both paused at the sound of footsteps. They heard the cloth in the doorway being pushed aside as Spock’s mother entered the room. Jim quickly took in all the details. She was wearing clothes that were relatively close to Terran standards in design and her dark brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun. When she saw the two of them, she beamed.

“Hello, Jim,” she greeted him, pleasantly. Spock stood up quickly and stepped to the side. She rolled her eyes, but still sat down on the edge of the bed as he’d obviously wished for her to do. “I overheard part of your conversation earlier. Would you like to hear about how I came to live on Vulcan now that your affairs are settled?”


	4. A Grayson on Vulcan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i shouldve just named this "the chapter of long paragraphs" or something. i'm still horrible with titles. the next chapter will probably just be about jim and spock talking and getting to know each other because i kind of had to boot out any interactions between them for the plot these past two chapters.
> 
> once again, thanks for all the views, comments, and kudos! if i made any errors or if there is anything i can improve, feel free to inform me.

Jim immediately agreed to hear what she had to say; he was curious about how she had come to Vulcan when he hadn’t seen any information pointing towards anyone from Earth landing there. He knew as well as anyone that there were secrets between the admirals, reports that were never to be filed and people that would never be found, but he wanted to know for sure what had happened before he made any assumptions.

“Let’s take this to the kitchen first,” Amanda decided, standing back up and laughing when Jim immediately shot up to follow her. The three of them relocated to the kitchen, sitting down at the table. They patiently waited for Amanda to gather her thoughts.

“Well, I was spending some time at the Starfleet Academy. I had been teaching at an elementary school for years, but I was certainly certified to teach there and they were in need of a new Creative Writing teacher at the time,” she explained, glancing around the kitchen for a moment before standing and heading towards the replicator. “I was assigned to a mission not long after I had become a teacher. I wasn’t sure why they’d need a teacher for a mission at the time, but now I realize it was because I’d turned down a fairly new admiral, I believe he was called Marcus, a few days beforehand.”

“Mother, you failed to inform me of this portion of the story,” Spock commented, appearing perturbed by the withheld information. Amanda merely smiled around the cup of coffee that she had made herself, sliding another mug over to Jim and then to her son.

“You would’ve tried to hack into their files and likely would’ve started a war just for attempting to ruin one man’s career,” she replied, taking a sip and scrunching up her nose at the taste. Spock was curiously watching as Jim downed the entire cup greedily. “I hate the taste of replicated coffee; I haven’t the slightest idea as to why I still drink it. Now where was I?”

“Marcus was being a useless prick,” Jim supplied helpfully as he went to get another cup. Amanda smiled back at him. Spock gave the two of them a pained look which they both calmly ignored.

“Thank you, Jim. I had been sent to Delta Vega to do some simple tests. Just to take some quick readings and make sure the planet was looking the same as always. We quickly realized it wasn’t and as I was still aboard the shuttle at the time, I immediately sent out a distress signal at the sight of the giant monstrosity I had seen,” Amanda went on, suppressing a shudder at the reminder of the creature that had devoured two of the scientists that had been out there. Spock placed a hand on her shoulder and she leaned into it, giving her son a grateful smile. “A strange man answered my call and when I began to babble at him in a panic, he said to hold on tight so he could lock onto my coordinates. I’m not sure how he managed to do it, but I was brought to a transporter pad and found myself in a room with old, obviously outdated machinery. There was a small green alien, the man called him Keenser and I’m not sure what species he was, waiting by the machine. He was very polite when leading me to Scotty, as the man had called himself.”

“A Roylan, perhaps,” Spock suggested to her. Jim rolled his eyes.

“He could have been,” she mumbled, looking thoughtfully down at her empty mug. She didn’t notice Jim getting up for another cup. “I spoke with the man for a little while. He explained that he had been stranded there for many years in an incident involving a prize beagle and admitted that it probably wouldn’t show up as he’d been left there by the landing party that had arrived before our own. Just as Marcus had intended for me, it was likely a mission he hadn’t expected Scotty to return from. I suggested that he beam himself out, but he admitted that to do so with the old machinery, he’d have to leave behind Keenser and he’d grown quite fond of him.”

“I kind of want to meet this guy,” Jim decided, grinning as he finished off his third cup of coffee as quickly as the rest. Spock moved the mug over to his own side of the table and away from Jim, causing the human to glare at him. He was already making plans to rescue the man, Scotty as she’d called him, and he was going to have to figure out a way to convince Bones that it was in their best interests to do so.

“I asked him if he could send me to another ship as I was sure my shuttle would no longer be operational in the state that it was in. He said that he could only send me to the nearest teleporter; it was the best he could do. I knew it would probably be unwise, but I didn’t want to have to spend the rest of my days stuck on Delta Vega,” Amanda confessed, pushing a couple strands of hair out of her face. “I was sent to Vulcan and landed in a large room filled with angry, shouting Vulcans. I couldn’t understand them, I hadn’t been given a universal translator, but they were absolutely livid. I saw that a couple of them had gone over to the refreshments table and were eating while they watched the drama unfold. Sarek had been one of the first to notice my presence and went over to assist me when he noticed that I was, well, probably not looking my best at the time.”

“Is Sarek your husband?” Jim asked her, curiously. She nodded, laughing at the memory of the occasion in which they had first met.

“It had been a mess. I’m fairly sure some of the elders were even throwing things at each other so it must’ve been a very heated debate,” she said, looking unreasonably amused. Jim was snickering behind his hands and Spock just stared at the two of them. Amanda went on to explain, “They had built a translator previously, though they’d never had much reason to test it, and they asked me a couple simple questions about why I was here. Sarek offered to let me stay with him until we figured things out, but I never left because we ended up in a relationship a few months before the tribe’s council could decide on the way to go about my departure.”

“So from what you’re saying, all three of us ended up around or on Delta Vega because we were being sent on a mission that we were meant to fail,” Jim mused, frowning as he tapped on the table with his fingers. “Do you think they’ll use that excuse again in the future?”

“I hope not, but I can’t say for sure,” Amanda admitted, yawning as she took all their mugs and put them in the sink. She began to walk towards another room, likely her bedroom, and asked over her shoulder, “Could one of you boys get those for me later? I’m going to get some sleep.”


	5. Vulcan History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm kind of having some writer's block or something so this chapter didn't come out as good as i'd like it to be. there is a lot of information about the world-building here so i might spend another chapter on spock and jim talking about it and the whole bond situation. not sure yet.
> 
> thanks, once again, for all the views, kudos, and comments. if there's any errors, feel free to inform me and i'll try to fix them.

It was a mutual decision between Jim and Spock that neither of them would be sleeping for a long time that night. Their reasons for this, however, differed greatly. Whereas Spock didn’t need as many hours of sleep as a human and wished to learn more about his t’hy’la, Kirk wasn’t sure that he trusted his surroundings enough to get more than a few hours of sleep if he was lucky. Though they had been treating him well so far, he was still nervous that Spock might abruptly lunge across the gap between them and strangle him to death or something.

In his defense, Spock did have a very predatory look in his eyes when he was watching him. It was kind of creepy, having the Vulcan’s unmoving attention. 

And the longer that he was around the Vulcan, the more unnerved he got. It was almost like he could feel his presence in the back of his mind; he was even beginning to get fleeting impressions of emotions when he was near. He pushed the idea aside, nervous about the idea of being able to read someone’s feelings without them even knowing it was happening.

They had moved to another room of the house. Spock had sent a few nervous glances towards the replicator and Jim had just been saddened that he wouldn’t be getting any more caffeine. 

Jim looked around and was unsurprised to see that there were some things that were familiar, like framed photos and a vase filled with unfamiliar flowers. He was sure that this was Amanda’s influence, however, as the rest of the room was a lot simpler in design. There were two chairs, sunk low and close to the ground, along with a bookshelf. He noticed that there were many candles and even incense located on a small table at the side of the room nearest to what he assumed was likely Spock’s bedroom.

Spock, upon seeing his questioning look, had informed him that meditation was used for Vulcans to remain in touch with their emotions. He had explained, somewhat vaguely, that they felt very intensely and meditated so that they could stay in tune with their emotions while building up their shields. When asked about the shields, he’d admitted that it was made a law in his tribe because a lot of Vulcans were allowing their emotions to bleed through and harm the minds of other people.

“Jim,” Spock said finally, breaking through the tense, awkward silence that had filled the room once the conversation had bled out. Jim, who had begun to pick at the dirt underneath his fingernails out of discomfort and boredom, looked up. “How much knowledge does the Federation have on Vulcan?”

“Not much,” he admitted, frowning thoughtfully as he brought up all the information he had found. It had taken a couple of hours to research on Delta Vega and the planets surrounding it, mostly because a lot of it had been above his clearance level. He carefully went on to explain himself, leaning forward in his seat with an amused smirk, “Most of the information wasn’t really meant for my eyes to see. I mostly knew that the inhabitants of Vulcan were “dangerous”, according to the Federation anyways, and learned way too much about how similar you guys are to Romulans. The planet itself was more of their focus, not really who or what lived on it.”

“Fascinating, yet unsurprising,” Spock decided, though he had raised an eyebrow at Jim’s previous words. “You were not supposed to be aware of this, then. There is much to our planet and to our people, most of which I am quite sure the Federation has never thought to learn more about.”

“Probably not,” Jim replied, getting up to examine the titles of the books on the shelf. There were a few in his own language, mostly classics, but for the most part, the words were all written in a language that he was unfamiliar with. “Care to elaborate on the planet and the people, then?”

“I am unsure where to start,” Spock said, watching as Jim began to take a closer look at one of the books. “Is there anything you wish to know?”

“Uh… well, you mentioned a tribe earlier, I think,” Jim mumbled, thoughtfully. He thought he felt surprise wash over him, but when he looked back at Spock, he just saw the Vulcan watching him in that creepy, focused sort of tunnel vision he seemed to have. Feeling uncomfortable, Jim sat back down next to him and asked, “Can you tell me more about that?”

“Certainly. I am a member of the tribe of Akraana, allied with the tribes of Giidas, Khosaar, and Natara. Our tribe has one main enemy, the Syrranites. We share land and cultural ties with Khosaar; our people have begun to consider merging tribes. The tribe of Giidas is a solidified ally, as we had helped them fight back against their own enemies, and we are working on solidifying our new alliance with the people of Natara. A small group has just recently been sent out to smooth out those relations and we are still locked in a stale-mate with the Syrannites.”

“That’s… a hell of a lot of information to take in, Spock. Who are the Syrannites, exactly, and why are you enemies?”

“Their people are Surakian extremists. We have tentatively begun to accept Surak’s sympathizers, but the Syrannites wish for nothing less than the eradication of any other ideals or beliefs. They wished to take our land from us to make their own temples of worship. This was around the time in which Akraana and Khosaar had agreed to share the caves and land so our people were unsettled and angry. We were easily cajoled into battle.”

“Kind of sounds a bit like Earth history or what I’ve heard of it. We used to have a lot of wars and a lot of it had to do with religion,” Jim observed, thinking back to some of the books that he had read. They were mostly full of a bunch of patriotic bullshit, but there were some parts that had seemed to be truthful, reliable reads. “Sounds like there is a lot that we could compare in Earth and Vulcan history. I can already tell that what you’ve just told me isn’t even half of it.”

“Vulcan has a complicated history, yes, and I have not even told you anything about our people. We are touch-telepaths, a reason for the need to shield our minds, and that had lead to much fighting within our tribe. Most of our people now accept the need to meditate, but a few believe that it goes against our principles of openness,” Spock mused, almost to himself, as he thought back to an altercation that he had overseen within his youth.

“Openness,” Jim repeated, staring at him like he’d grown two heads. 

Spock immediately recalled the way that they had met and smirked, informing him, “I am only half-human, Jim. I have found that my human heritage provides me with some… leeway.”

“You mean that it lets you trample all over the whole openness thing, then,” Jim asserted, grinning contentedly with the knowledge that the first Vulcan he had met was already bending the rules and he didn’t even have to corrupt him with his terrible, human ways. 

He paused, an earlier part of their conversation drifting back into his mind. He interrupted his own thoughts on the matter, blurting out, “Wait, touch-telepath?”

“Yes, I had informed you of this small detail earlier,” Spock responded, looking kind of offended. “Is there a problem?”

“Nah, it’s no big deal. I’m friends with this Orion from some of my classes, her name’s Gaila, and her pheromones probably could’ve killed me if I stuck around her too long, but she’s still totally awesome. Compared to that, the touch-telepath thing isn’t that big of a deal.”

“… Her pheromones could kill you,” Spock repeated, directly into his ear, and Jim took that moment to realize that he was practically sitting on the guy’s lap. He wasn’t sure how they got that close while just talking about textbook history, but it obviously happened. He didn’t get to think on it for too long or move away, though, because Spock began to speak again, adding, “And yet you remained in her presence?”

“Well, okay, she’s totally hot and smart and, more importantly, my friend, so I wasn’t going to just stop hanging out with her because of some biological issue,” Jim answered, leaning back slightly so that his glare would have more impact. He felt a quick pulse of some heated emotion and stopped glaring, mostly out of surprise. When Spock seemed to start growling low in his throat, though, he backed off and said, “Okay, okay, I’m guessing that was not a thing I should have brought up because of this whole Vulcan soulmates situation, but it's not like I have a lot of information to go off of here. Didn’t you say something about a bond forming between t’hy’la or whatever, by the way?”

“I did. Why do you ask?” Spock inquired, flummoxed by the sudden change in topics. 

“Just thought about it for a second,” he said, shrugging his shoulders and trying to dislodge the feeling that maybe the idea of being in someone else’s head might not be too far off. He ignored the thought, telling himself that it was a stupid idea, but he couldn’t completely erase the feeling of unease.


	6. Hometowns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally, spock and kirk are interacting for more than five minutes. damn plot, always getting in the way. 
> 
> i always thought the idea of soulmates was kind of creepy tbh, but i love writing this nonetheless. i feel like a lot of stories tend to have characters fall into those codependent "i will die for you" types of relationships and it's always a really fast transition into that, but i think that's strange. i'm trying my best not to do that here, not sure how successful i'm being at it though. 
> 
> feel free to inform me about any errors or things i need to fix in the chapter and thanks once again for the views, kudos, and comments! i appreciate all of it.

“I have explained much about my planet, Jim, but you have yet to speak of your own,” Spock pointed out calmly. Jim was pretty sure the guy was just getting sick of watching Kirk stew around in his own mind. Though Spock wasn’t aware of what his t’hy’la was so concerned with, the Vulcan was willing to help to get his mind off of it. It had the added benefit of learning more about him, after all.

“There’s not a lot to explain. Earth is my home planet, but there are many different cultures and people living on it. Personally, I spent a lot of my childhood in a small, ass-backwards town in Iowa,” he said, trying not to sound bitter about it. Iowa had left him with nothing but unpleasant memories and Tarsus IV with even more.

“Ass-backwards?” Spock repeated, speaking the words as if he hadn’t understood what he was trying to say. Thinking back on it, Spock had claimed that he only understood a certain version of Standard. He probably learned it from his mother.

“Uh, the people there aren’t the most reasonable and intelligent examples of humankind. They’re racist, sexist, and generally not pleased with you if you’re different. A lot of them are xenophobes, too,” Jim admitted, remembering some of the slurs he’d heard being made about the one or two aliens that had stuck around the town. There weren’t many aliens that stuck around in Riverside, after all; most of them were only passing through, looking for bigger and better places than a little town filled with bitter inhabitants.

“There is much of that prejudice on Vulcan,” Spock notes, a strange glimmer in his eye. He was looking off into the distance, likely caught up in a memory of that prejudice, and Jim realized that the glimmer was likely of anger. Spock’s hands were tightly gripping his thighs and he seemed almost lost to his temper before he suddenly straightened, continuing to speak, “I have been on the end of much of it during my childhood; it seems that a half-human, half-Vulcan hybrid’s control is… lacking when compared to Vulcans.” 

“I thought you guys were all about openness and stuff when it came to your emotions, though,” Jim commented, furrowing his brows together.

“Yes, but our people have grown to understand that being aware of your emotions does not mean that it is acceptable to depend upon them as a crutch. We need to be able to confront them and deal with them rather than acting out violently when the fancy strikes us.”

“You sound like this is a recent idea, not one that has stuck around for very long,” the human observed, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward, unconcerned by their close proximity.

“It is still fairly new. There have been laws put into place restricting Vulcans from killing fellow tribesmen. Though many of us are appalled at the idea of killing another, even without the law, others were… much more willing to follow their violent urges,” Spock says, remembering Stonn with a brilliant clarity. He finds that nearly dying at the hands of the other had left him floundering to figure out what exactly he felt on the matter. Sometimes, he’d remember the experience with rage and hatred. Other times, he felt nothing but pity.

“Someone… tried to do this to you,” Kirk exhales, eyes wide as he takes in the knowledge. Spock looks at him in shock, obviously not having expected that abrupt leap in understanding coming from the human sitting in front of him. 

Realizing that it must have been a painful experience to remember, one that Spock hadn’t intended to share, he felt it was unfair of him if he didn’t return the favor. “It’s not on the same scale, but when I was like 9, I drove my dad’s car off a quarry and bailed a couple seconds before it fell over.”

“Quarry?”

“A big, man-made pit,” Jim replied, watching in interest as Spock finally comprehended what he had done.

“Why did you drive a motorized vehicle into a pit, only escaping in the last few seconds? You must have realized the dangers of it,” Spock questioned him angrily and Jim felt a heady, strong pulsation of that displeasure in the back of his head. Jim wasn’t entirely sure why since he was pretty aware they had only known each other for, like, a day. It was a little too Romeo and Juliet for his tastes, personally.

“Well, I was a kid and a self-destructive one, at that. Frank, my step-dad, said he was going to sell my dad’s old Corvette. My dad died saving my life as a kid, it’s kind of given me a complex, and it was not the kind of thing I was happy about,” Jim said, deciding not to mention that he had also been a bit on the suicidal side. He didn’t have it too easy as a kid and Tarsus would only make things worse. Much, much worse. “Fuck, I was so pissed at him. I noticed there were keys in the ignition and Frank wasn’t paying attention. I took the opportunity and made sure he wouldn’t be selling it at all.”

“I have also acted out because of my emotions as a child and it has lead to trouble of multiple occasions,” Spock told him, looking almost amused at the thought. “I started so many fights that the VSA almost refused to accept me. The only reason I managed to get in was because of my genius-level intelligence, according to the elders.”

“VSA?”

“The Vulcan Science Academy, a most prestigious place for the people of Shi’Kahr. It is… somewhat lacking in many areas and I have gone on my own investigations of other planets during my time there, mostly out of boredom.”

“I think you’d like Starfleet. It’s kind of shitty from the whole cadet level situation, but I’m guessing you could probably test out of most of the courses easily,” Jim mused. “I get sent on a lot of science missions, even though I’m heading for the command track. I don’t think they trust me that much.”

Spock is silent for a few moments, appearing to be weighing the pros and cons on the idea in his head. Jim’s surprised, mostly because it had been an off-hand idea and not a solid plan he’d considered. Spock eventually speaks again, deciding, “I have not previously considered trying to apply for Starfleet. If you’re planning to head back to Earth as I suspect you are, however, I am amenable to such an action.”

“Wait, wait just a second, Spock. I know we’re Vulcan soulmates or whatever, but it doesn’t mean you just can… get up and leave everything in your life behind for me. That’s fucked up and I’m not willing to make you choose me over your own ambitions, okay,” Jim quickly argued back, a little loudly, and ran a hand through his hair, letting out an agitated sigh.

“It is my choice to accompany you back to Earth, Jim, and I will admit that it is… not entirely based off of the fact that you are my t’hy’la. I have always been interested in space and exploration; I have wanted to go out into the stars and learn more about the world, an interest that my mother willingly encouraged by providing me with books and information on not only her planet, but others as well. The only off-planet activity we have is within our planetary system and it is never enough to get science samples of a place I have been to many times before.” 

“I get that, Spock, but this situation is a little weird to me. We barely know each other and you’re… really possessive, or you seem that way sometimes, over me. I’m practically a stranger, someone you don’t even know, and that behavior just seems really off,” Jim tried to explain, barely halting a yawn from forming as he realized just how long they’d been talking for.

“I apologize. I am behaving strangely, a fact that even I am becoming aware of, and I am unsure if it has to do with the forming bond,” Spock agreed, suddenly perturbed as he realized the disparities from his usual behavior. Some of his actions had been particularly jealous or overprotective, both of which were unusual for him to express towards a person he had known for barely a day. 

He stood and then remembered himself, looking down at Jim from where he was curled up in one of the chairs. Spock said, “You are welcome to sleep in my room for the night. I believe I will take the time to meditate on the issue and seek out our bond while you rest, if that is acceptable.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Kirk agreed without putting up much of a fight. He was tired and he was beginning to worry that the bond was the reason for the almost alien emotions that he occasionally felt. Jim was aware that they weren’t his own, but the fact that he could feel them at all worried him.

Spock led the way to his room without a word. As he set up for meditation, Jim sprawled out on the bed. He fell asleep to the smell of incense and the flickering of candlelight, eventually reaching a restless slumber.


	7. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've given up on my chapter titles at this point. the plan sounds like some kind of bank-robbing comedy film or something...
> 
> i had a lot of trouble writing this chapter and i still don't think it's up to par with my regular writing so sorry about that.
> 
> thanks, once again, for all of the kind comments, the kudos, and the views. if i made any errors, feel free to inform me and i'll do my best to fix them.

It was a couple days later when McCoy’s shuttle finally arrived. Jim was relieved to be freed from the awkward conversations about Vulcan physiology (and many, many other things that he’d never wanted to know) that Amanda was inclined to start up with him whenever her son wasn’t around.

That did not mean, however, that he was pleased to be on the other end of one of his best friend’s angry diatribes.

“I trusted you to go on a mission by yourself one time and this is what your reckless ass got into? One time, Jim! You’re a damn fool. We’ll both be up to our heads in assignments by the time we get back and I’ll be the only one that’s really suffering from it, you reckless genius!” the doctor shouted as soon as he was out the door, already storming over towards the other cadet. Kirk noticed a serious-looking woman exiting the shuttle behind him, her long, brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. He recognized her as Uhura, the xenolinguistics specialist that he’d met once while drunk.

“Good to see you, too, buddy,” Jim crowed back, a grin creeping onto his face as his friend’s eye twitched. Bones tossed a scornful look his way and Jim ignored it with ease, pissing the doctor off even more. 

He smiled at Uhura, trying to be polite, but she just rolled her eyes at him as she scrolled through the PADD in her hand. No surprise there, really. Directing his words towards her, he said, “I’m kind of shocked to see you here, Uhura. I thought you were trying to get onto one of the ships as a communications officer.”

“She was assigned to keep an eye on us, Jim,” McCoy said, dryly. “Doubt there was any way she could reasonably deny it, even if it’s a babysitting mission.”

“Pretty much,” she admitted. There wasn’t much heat in her tone; it seemed to have been washed away with the sight of the Vulcan desert and the wide, expansive orange sky. Just like many other members of Starfleet, Uhura loved the allure of exploring other planets. She admired the civilizations she’d seen in her travels, even if they were discovered on easy cadet missions.

It took her a while to noticed Spock as he hadn’t seen fit to move himself from his position standing at Jim’s shoulder. Uhura glanced over at Jim, curiously wondering if this was the soulmate that Doctor McCoy had been complaining about so extensively. She tentatively smiled at him. Having decided to lay it on thick with the formality, she said, “Hello. I’m Nyota Uhura, xenolinguistics expert and student attending Starfleet Academy.”

“Greetings, Nyota. I am Spock, a scientist and computer programmer attending the Vulcan Science Academy,” the Vulcan replied, equally formally. He raised his hand in the ta’al and she quickly understood the gesture, returning it in the hopes that she wasn’t offending him by doing so. It was a bit of a risk, but since Jim was still alive after encountering them, she supposed it wasn’t too big of one. “Are you well? I am sure it has been a long journey.”

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you,” she replied. Their attention, however, had quickly been diverted when McCoy’s swearing began to rise in volume again. He was pulling something out of his bag and shoving it in Kirk’s face. Spock appeared oddly disgruntled by the action, she noted with amusement.

“Oh, sweet! Bones, you are the best and I love you,” Jim gushed, pulling the doctor into a hug that was obviously meant to anger him even more. Spock was glaring heatedly at the doctor’s back and Nyota barely repressed a sigh as she continued to text Gaila on her PADD.

McCoy jabbed Kirk with a hypospray and the blond backed off, looking subdued. He glared at his friend, rubbing his arm and grimacing. It didn’t stop him from talking, though, and Jim complained, “I haven’t been able to dig around in Starfleet’s database for days. It’s been driving me crazy!”

“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that,” Uhura commented, smiling in a way that meant she’d still be remembering it. Kirk regretted his words immediately. He wondered if he’d have to worry about blackmail and with another look at Uhura’s face, all doubts were erased. He gulped nervously and her smile widened.

“Jim, did you not wish to speak about the story my mother had told you?” the Vulcan asked, glancing at Jim’s arm in concern. He reached out to check and see if he had retained any injuries, but Jim just swatted his arm away in irritation.

“I’m fine, Spock. It’s a hypospray which is totally safe. Bones just likes to stab his patients with them because he’s a menace to society; he likes to take his anger issues out on us through the use of sharp, sterile objects,” Jim explained, glowering at the bag that rested at the doctor’s feet. There were probably more hypos in there. Spock nodded, though he still looked fairly concerned. 

“I don’t know who thought it was a good idea for you to have a medical license,” Jim hissed, glaring daggers at the doctor. McCoy merely looked the other way, but he was radiating smugness; Jim could just tell. Spock gave him a pointed look, though, and he realized that he had to get back on track. He said, “Actually, I need to tell you guys about Scotty. It’s pretty important.”

One long explanation later and he was already being faced with Bones glaring at him. Jim was surprised, however, when he saw that Uhura looked like she was contemplating the idea he had presented to the two of them. He had thought she’d be the hardest the sell on it since she was the most by-the-books person he’d ever met at the academy. 

“You’re telling me you want to go on a rescue mission when Uhura and I were specifically told to just get you then return back to Starfleet?”

“… Yes?”

“... Fine, alright, I’m in,” he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as he muttered under his breath. Jim caught a couple choice words, something along the lines of “kill” and “hypo” and “deranged”, but he just ignored it. That was par for the course with Bones, usually.

“I guess I am, too,” Uhura decided after a few moments of indecision. Plainly able to read the confusion that Jim was displaying on his face, she explained, “I can’t just leave someone to the tender mercies of giant worm monsters, Kirk. Plus, I’ve never met a Roylan before and it’ll be an interesting chance to put my knowledge of their language to use.”

“Are we taking the shuttle then?” McCoy asked.

“You could use the transporters,” Spock suggested, but Jim waved it away, pointing out that Scotty hadn’t been able to leave that way whenever Amanda had been there. He asked if his shuttle could still be salvageable, but Spock admitted that it was probably being scrapped for parts if it wasn’t already buried in sand.

“I think that I should join you all, then,” Amanda decided abruptly, having appeared at Uhura’s side during their argument. Nyota jumped, staring in shock at the woman. She hadn’t even heard her approaching, though she supposed it was in some part due to the sand and the shoes that the woman was wearing. She guessed they were meant to ensure stealth.

“Mother, I insist that you remain here. Though I understand your need to assist the man that had helped you, you do not have the necessary training for a dangerous situation like the one we are entering,” Spock argued back, looking faintly horrified at the idea of his mother being in danger.

She looked ready to say something in response to that, likely involving his own personal bias, but Uhura jumped in quickly and added, “I have to agree with your son, ma’am. Starfleet officers are trained to deal with dangerous situations. As a civilian, you will only be putting yourself at risk.”

“I, too, have the necessary training required for this situation. There are classes at the VSA and T’Pring saw fit to teach me other methods of fighting when she found the classes to be lacking,” he explained, thinking to himself that Stonn’s bondmate was a much better fighter than Stonn could ever hope to be. He recalled her quick, rapid attacks on his person, a shocking change from Stonn’s sloppy form and brute strength.

“I… Alright,” Amanda finally allowed, shoulders slumping in defeat. She straightened quickly, however, and marched over to her son. Glaring up at him, she told him, “You better return unharmed, Spock, or I’ll have to sic a le-matya on you.”

“A le-matya, Mother?” Spock asked, staring down at her with a horrified look painting his features. The large beast came to the forefront of his mind as he recalled the textbook information describing their poisonous claws and predatory nature. His own kahs-wan had been far from easy, he remembered, but he was far more concerned with hiding from enemy tribes than he had been with seeking out a le-matya.

“It was a joke, baby,” she replied, the endearment slipping out and revealing her distress quite plainly. He hugged her, unconcerned with the others seeing him do so, and she sighed, pulling back. Addressing the group at large, she stated, “As for all of you, good luck and stay safe.”

They all nodded. Bones and Uhura quickly went aboard the shuttle; Jim could see them going through the safety checks together. He was about to join them to help the process along, but Spock had grabbed him by the arm to stop him.

“Jim, I must speak with you on an important matter once we return,” he informed him, trying to appear unaffected but mostly looking nervous.

Jim nodded in understanding, mentally brushing up against feelings of anxiety that paralleled his own. He pushed the feelings aside, doing his best to ignore them, and they both boarded the ship.


	8. Finding Scotty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit, this chapter turned out to be really long compared to my usual length. 
> 
> it's a bit of a mess of inconsistencies because i have no idea what i'm talking about, but i did try to google some things, so hopefully it's at least vaguely understandable jargon that i'm tossing around.
> 
> thanks for all the views, kudos, and comments! if there's anything i need to fix or change, please tell me.

Once they had all packed into the shuttle, the group split apart with assigned roles. 

Uhura and Kirk were piloting and navigating the shuttle together. Uhura was mostly doing the navigation, having taken a couple classes in her preparation for working on the bridge of a ship.

According to Jim, his mother had taught him how to pilot a shuttle when he was about eleven. Bones had seemed annoyed by this piece of information while Spock had sent Kirk a look of concern. They were both ignored.

As for Spock and McCoy, they had gone off to prepare for the landing ahead of them.

Spock was hacking into the system so that he could learn as much as he could about Delta Vega. This concerned Uhura because he wasn’t even a member of the academy; Jim told her that he probably would be one soon and she went silent on the matter, confused. Spock was also consulting the information that the VSA had on the planet, but the humans could all tell it wasn’t all that helpful by the worried look on his face.

McCoy had gone off to see what he could use for medical supplies. He was also searching for any articles of clothing he could find. He had scrounged up a pathetic-looking first aid kit, his medical tricorder, and a lot of hypos. He also found two jackets, some gloves, and a spare comm. He was currently rummaging around in the engine room in the hopes of finding anything that would be more useful than a splint and medical tape.

By the time the doctor had found what he was looking for, Nyota had managed to direct the shuttle towards Delta Vega. They both saw the planet appearing through the viewscreen and as they entered the atmosphere, Jim alerted the others to the fact that they were about to land.

They landed near the coordinates that Amanda had provided. It was the best they could do since Amanda couldn’t remember them all that well to begin with. The landing was a bit rough and McCoy stumbled back into the room, asking, “What the hell was that landing, kid?! I thought you knew how to fly this damn thing!”

“I said I knew how to fly it, not that I knew how to fly it well,” Kirk explained easily, getting out of his seat and tossing a smirk in his friend’s direction. “There’s a distinction, you know.”

“You guys can have your little spat some other time, Kirk,” Uhura said, aiming for calm and coming up with exasperation. She was examining McCoy’s findings with a small frown marring her face. Noticing the very few medical supplies they had and the lack of proper clothing, she pointed out, “We only have three jackets and a couple pairs of gloves; that’s including everything I packed for the trip. Someone’s going to have to stay with the shuttle and I think it should be McCoy. As the medic, you have the least training among all of us.”

“I’ll stay with the shuttle, but at the first sight of trouble, you better haul your frozen asses straight back here, got it? And don’t forget to bring your comms, damn it.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Spock replied serenely, already putting on one of the jackets and taking one of the spare comms in hand.

Nyota and Jim were doing the same. Jim stuffed his comm into the jacket pocket, placing the phaser in the holster mounted on his hip, and then picked up his tricorder as an afterthought.

Nyota held her hand up to the scanner and the doors opened before the three of them. They all walked out. The humans paused for a moment to take in the view, but Spock went on ahead, examining the terrain before them.

It was nearly impossible to see the sky through the thick fog that surrounded them. Jim could just barely make out what looked like rows of clouds before giving up and looking at the rest of the planet. The ground was covered in layers of snow. The wind whipped past him and there was moisture in the freezing cold air, a sharp contrast to the dry, humid desert plains on Vulcan. He was suddenly glad for the protection of the gloves and jacket he was in, even though he still shivered slightly.

“Alright, time to take some readings,” he muttered, pulling out his tricorder and walking around. He tried not to stray too far from the ship. He kicked up some snow with his foot and held the tricorder close to the ground beneath it.

“I do not believe this is the time to be using your devices,” Spock informed the two of them, watching as they closely examined the area around them. Jim felt a spike of unease in the back of his head and upon realizing it was not his own, he sent a small, reassuring smile Spock’s way.

“It’s necessary, Spock,” Nyota replied, humming in thought as she read back the results. “We only landed here to get results; we could just use the navigational console to find where Scotty is. Kirk, the tricorder seems to be picking up on salt deposits nearby. There even seems to be a body of water close to us. Do you think some of this snow is covering ice, not ground?”

Before Kirk could respond, the ground beneath their feet shook. Jim was already on the ground, but Nyota lost her footing and fell to the ground.

“What was that?!” Kirk shouted. Spock, having managed to stand his ground, rushed over to the two of them. The ground shook again and then there was a loud, shattering sound as a head pierced through the ice a few feet away from them. The monster hissed at them, squirming and trying to pull itself free from the ice.

Jim grabbed Uhura’s arm and helped her up. They both stared at the creature in shock. Kirk hesitated, wondering if it would be smarter to phase the creature or if they should just make a run for it. In that moment of indecision, the monster began to chomp at the ice surrounding its body and finally pulled itself free.

The monster came rushing at them and Spock stood in front of the two of them, even when it snapped its teeth and hissed again. It was still far enough away that they might be able to get away if they made a run for it. Jim could feel protectiveness and anger washing over him, so he shoved it aside and tugged at Spock’s arm, shouting, “Spock, come on, we gotta go!”

It shook him out of whatever mindset he had been in and they all took off. Nyota tripped, twisting her ankle at an odd angle. She let out a pained exhale through her teeth, but Jim quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her along without allowing her to stop running. They were coming in close to the ship and holding the comm in his other hand, he screamed, “Bones, open up the doors!”

They all rushed inside and Nyota collapsed to the ground, gripping her ankle. It was terribly swollen and a dark purple in color. She had likely aggravated the injury in their run, but McCoy had dropped upon her like a rabid dog so Jim knew she was in good hands.

Kirk flew through the sequence, shouting out for Spock to assist him. Between the two of them, they managed to get the shuttle off-ground and he exhaled in relief. It was short-lived, however, as another creature broke through the ice and smashed its head against the viewscreen, revealing a row of sharp, pointy teeth as it hissed in anger. Jim jerked the shuttle to the side, receiving McCoy’s angry shout and Nyota’s sharp hiss of pain for his efforts. He barely managed to re-stabilize it before rising upward.

“Spock, try and see if you can find any nearby structure using the navigation screen. You should be able to get it to do a more detailed search,” Kirk ordered the Vulcan seated next to him. He nodded and quickly began to perform the search. A dot appeared on the screen and Jim took off in that direction. Eventually, something appeared before the viewscreen.

“McCoy, can you bring Uhura over here? We need to send a distress signal and I can't activate it since it only identifies the two of you,” Jim said. McCoy let out a grunt of agreement and he heard the sound of the two of them approaching.

Uhura held her hand up to the scanner and waited a moment before saying, “Hello, this is a distress signal for Montgomery Scott and the Roylan that is with him. I need you to come outside right now if you want to get off this planet. We have a shuttle waiting, but there are creatures on our tail so you have to be quick.”

Two figures came running out and Jim hovered above the ground waiting for them, but for some reason the shuttle wouldn’t stay above ground and fell the scant inches that were left. Spock stood from the chair, allowing Nyota to assume the position of navigator again, while McCoy walked over to the door, holding his hand out for the scanner. The doors opened and Scotty ran in first with the green alien hot on his trail.

Jim took off or, well, he tried to. He stared at the screen in horror, seeing the words “MAIN ENGINE FAILURE” flashing across the screen.

“Shit,” he hissed, standing up from the chair. “Bones, you’ll have to take over piloting. Scotty, I can call you that, right? Well, whatever, I’m going to need your help here. The main engine’s in a critical state of disrepair and we need to get it running again despite all of that.”

“Leave it tae me, laddie. Ah'll get thes hin' fixed up in no time,” the Scotsman reassured him as they walked back into the engines room to see what was wrong. 

Jim got down on his knees, frowning at the sight of the corroded cables and what seemed to be a wrench jammed inside of there. If he took his best guess, it had been in there beforehand, possibly as an accident, and had gotten stuck deep inside of it when he had jerked the shuttle like that earlier. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get his hand in to pull it out. Pulling himself back up, he told the other man, “We need new battery cables, these ones are corroded to hell, and I think someone jammed a wrench into it so we’ll have to pull that out.”

“Keenser, ye wee scunner, get yerself over ‘ere! Ah need yer help,” Scotty shouted after a moment of contemplation and the short alien scuttled over, peering at the engine with a frown on his little face. He ducked down and began to dig around inside of it, finally pulling the wrench free with a couple of tugs.

“Thanks, man,” Jim said, and the Roylan surprised him by holding up his hand. He gave him a high-five and Keenser gave a pleased rumbling noise in reply. “Any idea on what to do about the cables?”

“Ah doubt ye hae baking soda an’ water, thas th’ desperate man’s solution, so ahm gonna hae tae clean th’ damn things manually,” the Scotsman grouched, unplugging them. He sighed at the sight of the wires. Completely corroded. Keenser handed him a bottle of water and a rag. He put some of the water on the rag and began to clean the wires off. “Thes is gonnae take a while.”

“Well, we don’t exactly have a while, Scotty!”

“Yer up tae high doh, aren’t ye? Lemme jist clean ‘em off a wee bit, alright, an’ then ye can try it.”

By the time he had finished, the monsters had found them again and were hissing angrily as they smashed their heads into the viewscreen. A couple of dents had been left in the sides of the shuttle, Jim noticed, but he didn’t have time to mourn for its appearance. He shouted, “Try and take off, Bones!”

McCoy did as ordered and they all sighed in relief when it started up. It was hard to control and the error message was still flashing on the screen, but they set off for Vulcan anyways in the hopes that they’d make it back in one piece.


	9. Psi-Null Problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright... i'm thinking there will be one more chapter after this one. and after that? possibly an epilogue. i didn't get into everything i wanted to on this story, but i'm liking the way it has turned out so far.
> 
> with that aside, thanks once again for all the kudos, comments, and views! it makes me really happy to know that people are enjoying what i've written.

The return trip to Vulcan had been an unpleasant experience. The shuttle nearly gave out twice, falling off course and causing it be a very long ride back. Kirk was certainly aware that dangerous situations could bring out another side of people, but listening to Uhura cursing in Klingon as Spock vehemently agreed with her in Vulcan was something else entirely.

Though they had all managed to get it back up and running, it was still a very arduous, slow-going task; the patience of its inhabitants was wearing out quickly. By the time they’d made it back to Vulcan, most of the group was still on edge. Well, except Scotty.

Scotty had seemed very enthusiastic, actually, and Kirk briefly wondered if this was what Bones felt anytime he acted in a particularly ridiculous way. The Scotsman had elected to stay with the ship and try to get it running again, but once he took in the mess that was left behind, he admitted that they might be grounded for a day or two. 

The rest of the crew stumbled out of the ship and headed to Spock’s home, suddenly feeling exhausted with the weight of everything that had happened. 

Amanda let them in and seemed ready to interrogate them, but quickly changed her tune upon seeing their tired faces. She sighed regretfully, having been ready to bully her way into receiving an explanation of the events that had gone down, and said, “Alright, I’ve got two guest beds and two of those roll up cots. Start fighting over them, I suppose. I’m going back to bed.”

Jim gave Spock an accusatory glance at the mention of the guest beds once his mother was out of eyesight and the Vulcan looked away guiltily. Uhura immediately claimed one of the beds, turning on her heel and ignoring any complaints. Bones quickly left to retrieve the only other bed left. It had been mutually decided that Scotty and Keenser could have the roll up beds. The other two were going to have to share Spock’s room; Jim had agreed to this without much argument, mostly because he was too exhausted to do so. 

As soon as Jim and Spock entered the room, the atmosphere became stifling and awkward. They both looked at each other in wordless silence and then back at the bed, almost warily.

Jim quickly became tired of the tension forming between them, especially after all that had happened in the past couple of days, and removed his shoes before crawling underneath the covers. It was much, much warmer under there than on that cold, icy planet. He rolled onto his side, leaving Spock room to lie on the other side. Closing his eyes and not bothering to see if the Vulcan got over his freak out, Jim tiredly mumbled, “G’night.”

“Rest well, Jim,” Spock replied, relying on formality even as they were about to share a bed. As Jim drifted off to sleep, Spock discarded his shoes as well and climbed into the bed, careful not to leave any of their limbs in contact. He fell asleep while lying stiffly on his side, back facing the human lying next to him.

When Jim woke next, it was with a warm body pressed up against his back and an arm loosely draped over his torso. His mind was pleasantly buzzing and before he knew it, his eyes were drifting shut again. He leaned back against the Vulcan’s chest and fell back asleep without registering the situation. 

Spock was the next to wake. His mind first processed the information a little sluggishly. He was holding onto someone. They were warm. It was nice. 

His eyes snapped open once he put it all together and realized that he was lying in bed holding his t’hy’la. He grimaced at the feeling of his arm going numb and removed it from under the sleeping human, watching nervously as Jim turned over and scrunched up his face. It smoothed out again, however, and he remained asleep. 

Spock stood, grabbed a change of clothes, and left the room.

After he had changed, he noticed that a few of the others were awake. Uhura was still asleep, as well as Scotty and Keenser. McCoy and his mother appeared to be establishing a rapport, Spock noticed with a growing feeling of dread. He overheard parts of their conversation as he prepared breakfast for himself. He grabbed something for Jim as well.

“…kid’s always getting himself into trouble. Is this soulmate thing true or was he just pulling my leg?”

“Spock’s done similar things in his youth, though I doubt it’s the end of the trouble he’ll find,” Amanda admitted after a moment’s pause, staring sadly down at her mug as she stirred in some sugar. “As for the soulmate situation, he hasn’t been lying. Jim is my son’s t’hy’la and while I may have had doubts at first, I’m absolutely positive that he’s right. They are very similar in many ways.”

“Really? Sorry, but I can’t see it,” McCoy responded point-blank, looking up from his plate with a confused frown resting on his face.

Spock doesn’t hear the rest of the conversation as he’s busy taking the food he had acquired to the room he was sharing with Jim.

He came into the room to find the human awake, his tired blue eyes immediately focusing on the Vulcan and what he had brought. At the sight of coffee, a grin spread over Jim’s face. He held out his hands and said, “Yes, I am definitely approving of this bringing me breakfast in bed thing! You should totally continue this; it’s a time-honored human tradition, okay? Now let me just take that caffeine-filled drink off your hands.” 

Spock sighed and handed the coffee over, replying, “I have only done this twice, Jim, and I was not enabling your bad habits the previous time I had brought you food. Do not think it will happen a third time. Caffeine is a stimulant.”

“Nag, nag, nag,” Jim teased, smiling up at him as he finished off the coffee. Spock sat down beside him and they dug into their food. After chewing and swallowing, he resumed their conversation by observing, “I’ve heard the “coffee is bad for you” talk from Bones a ton of times which is actually kind of hilarious since I’ve seen him down a whole pot whenever he was forced to work a long shift.”

“While I would certainly enjoy discussing Doctor McCoy’s contradictory nature, I actually believe this would be the proper time to speak to you about a subject that has been on my mind,” Spock decides quickly, taking a bite of his food. “It has to do with our bond.”

“What?” Kirk asked, immediately sitting up straighter at the mention of the bond.

“I had been meditating and working on my shields when I felt that something was tugging at my mind. I followed the tug to learn more about what was happening with our bond,” Spock started to explain. Jim, as part of a psi-null race, translated that as the mental equivalent of poking at a loose tooth. "I soon learned that the bond was forming at an astonishingly fast pace. After examining my mental faculties, I have come to believe that our bond needs to be cemented firmly in our minds or… removed entirely, if that is what you wish; otherwise, I will continue to act strangely when you are involved.”

“When I’m involved,” Jim replied, flatly. He didn’t look very pleased with the idea, a stormy look overtaking his features, and Spock decided that he should probably explain it a little better.

“It is instinct, Jim. I have a constant need to protect the bonds in my head and through association with those bonds, I must also protect my bondmates. As our bond is tentative, I… find myself feeling protective, possessive even. Familial bonds, too, work this way. If anyone tried to harm my mother or speak badly of her, the bond… would only further the provokation of that anger.”

“So… you’re saying that you’re having control issues because of our bond, I get that and while it makes me kind of uncomfortable, it’s not what’s on my mind,” Jim grumbled, hunching in on himself and quietly asking, “I want to know... Do you want this to continue between us or should we nip this in the bud before it’s too late?”

Spock glared at him and Jim felt a flare of anger in the back of his head. Spock actually contemplated it, though, even if Jim could still feel the unhappiness and agitation coming off of him in waves. After a few moments, Spock informed him, “Yes, I wish to learn more about you. I had believed that you would be the one that wished to terminate our forming bond and I am pleased to know that I was incorrect. Perhaps we could try… dating?”

“Uh, yeah, that’ll work,” Jim agreed, a little nervously. Bonding was very permanent and as much as he wanted to try to make this work out with Spock, the idea of such a long commitment left him feeling uneasy. Another thought came to mind, however, and he asked, “Spock, is it possible for the bond to allow me to feel your emotions?”

“The shields in my head should prevent that,” Spock said, eyes widening in surprise. His eyes went momentarily blank as he disappeared to check something in his mind; Jim waited, a little impatiently, for him to return. 

Spock did after a few moments and with a frown, he explained, “It appears that my shields form around your mind. I was not aware this could happen in a bond, but the bond between t’hy’la is a rare and mostly undocumented one. I apologize, Jim. I will find a way to solve this issue through heavy meditation.”

“Honestly, Spock? I’m okay with this as long as it’s just your feelings in the back of my head. If you’re fine with it, we can just let it stay that way unless it gets worse,” Jim responded after turning the idea over in his mind.

He could feel the anxiety rolling off of Spock in waves and his expression gentled as he told him, “It’s alright if you don’t understand everything about this, Spock, because I don’t either. We’ll work this out together, okay?”

“You have my gratitude. I will still ask my mother, as she may be more knowledgeable about the subject,” Spock said. He hesitated and then barreled on to add, “I do have one last thing to ask of you, Jim. Do you intend to leave once Scotty has finished the repairs?”

“Yes,” Jim replied without hesitation. He felt like something was off, though, as if the question was asked to incite a thought in him… and he remembered. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, he interjected, “Wait a minute, Spock. Are you still dead-set on coming with me?”


	10. New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, i'm probably going to add an epilogue after this and then i'll be done with this story, at least! not sure if it'll be the last you guys will see of the universe, though. i really like how this chapter turned out and i hope you guys like it. :D
> 
> with all that aside, thanks once again for all the views, kudos, and comments! it really inspired me to finish this story. if there are any errors or something that needs pointing out, feel free to tell me!

Spock hesitated before speaking, meeting Jim’s narrowed and accusatory eyes briefly before focusing on a point over the human’s shoulder. He informed him, quite bluntly, “Yes. I believe you have quite a dynamic mind, Jim, but my interest in you is not the only reason behind this decision.”

“Okay…?” Jim asked, frowning at him. “Care to elaborate? I mean, it’s not just because of the soulmates deal, right?”

“The bond is not my only reason, yes,” Spock informed him. Jim could feel anxiety swirling around in the back of his mind and waited patiently for the Vulcan to get his thoughts together, deciding not to push him to speak unless he absolutely had to. “Life on Vulcan is… stagnant, confining even. I have been bored and listless for a long time, far before we ever met. It is stifling to be here and I think that going with you is the best course of action to take.”

“I’m guessing you’ve also already dug up a logical reason behind this, too,” Jim sighed, running a hand through his hair. Spock blinked, shocked to hear the thread of amusement in his tone.

“Yes, it would also be useful as a political move; it is one I am willing to take once I bring the idea to my mother. As a member of a strong Vulcan tribe and the son of Sarek, I have diplomatic leverage that most would not,” Spock explained, a distant look in his eyes. Jim was amused to see him getting lost in the calculations he was sure the Vulcan had taken, aware of the risks inherent in such a move.

Spock was aware that Vulcans were no longer on bad terms with the Federation, not like before. Since his mother had wound up on the planet, the people began to ease out of the xenophobic mindset. It had cruelly followed Spock throughout his childhood, a hurtful view that he had not been able to understand.

Ridding their people of xenophobia had been a slow, exhausting process, but it was finally showing results. Spock was certain that he was no longer the only hybrid residing on the planet. After all, he no longer received the taunting remarks that had been lobbed at his back since he was old enough to comprehend them. The words still stung, but he was no longer repulsed by his status as a hybrid. He was beginning to understand that he had to accept his human side just as much as his Vulcan one.

If it was not for the constant feuds, his people would have been trying harder to get in contact with other planets. As it was, the council was currently debating on the matter. As their debates often ended in the flinging of objects (along with loud screaming and sometimes even fist-fights), however, most matters that were brought to them took years before any sort of agreement could be reached. 

Realizing that he had been sitting in silence without speaking a word for at least eight and a half minutes, he suddenly felt grateful for Kirk’s patience. He apologized for his negligence and said, “I am also a half-human, half-Vulcan hybrid, a fact of which you are already aware. As my father has lamented about on many occasions, there has been a need for an event that can lead to an agreement between Vulcan and Earth. Our forming bond may be just that."

“There’s no way I’m gonna be able to talk you out of this, then?” Kirk mused absentmindedly, almost as if he hadn’t meant to say it aloud. Jim knew that look of determination and stubbornness very well; it was one he wore very often.

“Your assessment is correct,” Spock responded coolly, folding his hands together in his lap as he met the weighing gaze head on. “I am sure of my decision and I am aware of the risks.”

“Wait… are you suggesting that we could use our bond as a political marriage for the good of our home planets?” Jim blurted out suddenly, eyes widening. It had taken him a moment to register that, honestly flummoxed. 

Upon being given an annoyed look and an affirmative nod, he sighed and buried his face in his arms, mumbling, “Oh my god, Bones is going to laugh his ass off. He’ll fucking love this shitty romance novel that’s become my life, the bastard.”

“Are you well…?” Spock asked, slightly bewildered by the reaction. He received a garbled reply, translated it into a “yes”, and then stood. Brushing invisible dust off his clothes and then straightening, Spock said, “I must speak with my mother. I would suggest informing the doctor that I may be joining you while I do so.”

“Yeah, okay,” Jim agreed and stood up, following the Vulcan out of the room. He briefly pondered over Spock’s agitation at the idea of the two of them conversing, having felt a hint of it, but put it aside to evaluate later as he saw his friend sitting at a table across from Spock’s mother. 

He walked over to McCoy at a brisk pace, grabbed the irate man by the elbow, and dragged him away while ignoring the threats he received for his efforts. Over his shoulder, he told her, “I’ll just be taking him off your hands, kay?”

Amanda just laughed in reply.

After he’d sufficiently put some space between them, he released his friend. As expected, Bones wasn’t pleased with being pulled away from a conversation and immediately shouted, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? I swear you don’t have a reasonable bone in your body.”

“Must’ve lost it with my common sense,” Jim agreed, grinning at his friend. 

Jim was bouncing on the balls of his feet, a sure sign that the moron had made a bad decision, and McCoy sighed deeply. Massaging his temples, he asked, “Do I even want to know what idea you have now? Kid, you’re giving me gray hairs with all this goddamn stress.”

“… Your hair’s not gray, though. Like at all.”

“Damn it, man! Just tell me already and quit your damn fidgeting.”

“Okay, okay, I get it! Spock wants to come with us,” he fessed up, glaring heatedly at the doctor. “And before you start yelling at me, I did try to tell him not to multiple times. He just won’t listen.”

McCoy didn’t even bother to hide his laughter and disbelievingly asked, “He just won’t listen? You’ve just described every day of my life, you overgrown toddler.”

Jim tossed him a disgusted look, not even bothering to say anything since he knew the jerk had a point, and Bones just ignored all of it with the patience of someone who knew they were right. With the conversation officially terminated between the two stubborn individuals, they returned to the kitchen and caught the tail end of the conversation between Spock and Amanda.

“… and you better message me weekly, Spock. Keep in touch, okay? I want to hear from you, even while you’re off gallivanting through space and exploring strange new worlds.”

“Yes, Mother,” Spock replied, nodding solemnly. 

His mother’s expression softened and she patted his cheek. She pulled herself together very quickly, wiping the saddened look off her face and replacing it with a proud, amused one. Amanda told him, “Spock, your friend managed to get the shuttle working ahead of schedule. Apparently he spent most of the night slaving over the repairs, but I convinced him to get some sleep when he finally wandered in at the crack of dawn. He should be about ready to go now.”

“Thank you for informing me. Goodbye, Mother,” Spock said, standing and moving to her side before pulling her into a hug. She leaned into it, shoulders shaking minutely before she pulled back with a smile so fragile that it looked painful to hold in place. Raising his hand in the ta’al, he told her, “Live long and prosper.”

Amanda smiled up at him, holding a wealth of adoration for her son and an inner strength that anyone could see by her resilience in the face of possibly never seeing her son again. She held up her hand in the ta’al as well and replied, “Peace and long life, baby.”

McCoy had left once he realized that this parting was not for his eyes to see, but Jim stood by the door waiting for Spock. The Vulcan walked over to him with almost robotic movements, clearly moving on auto-pilot, and a look on his face that said he wasn’t far from crumbling at his mother’s parting words. 

Though Jim doubted it would work, he tried his best to send soothing, reassuring feelings the unsettled man’s way. Spock straightened, eyes widening momentarily. He looked bewildered before he seemed to come to some sort of realization.

He followed Jim out the door and they boarded the shuttle together.

Uhura came up to them as soon as the doors slid open and gave Spock a kind, understanding smile before turning her attention to Jim. Expression morphing into a more serious one, she told him, “I’m sure you already know about this, but you’re going to have to bring this up to Pike whenever we get back. I’m willing to put in a good word for him when you do so just comm me up, okay?”

Spock returned the smile she had sent him before she left. It was a little weak, but when he thanked her, it was entirely sincere.

After a cursory inspection of the entire shuttle on Kirk’s part and a couple of other checks, they were off to return to Starfleet. Spock disappeared briefly to put his belongings into the holding area with the rest of their stuff, but returned a few moments later. He looked much happier and Jim guessed that he’d needed some time to regain composure. He'd quickly returned to Kirk's side and they stood there for a few moments, gazing around the room in silence. 

Jim wasn’t really sure what drove him to do what he did next, though.

He had glanced around, noticing that everyone was focused on each other or their controls, and leaned into Spock’s space with a tenuous, almost shy smile. When Spock didn’t react negatively, Jim briefly touched two fingers of his hand, index and middle, to Spock’s before pulling his hand away. 

Spock’s eyes widened in surprise, but Jim relaxed once he felt a pleased buzzing in the back of his mind. 

There had been a pause while Spock looked around, too, before leaning a scant few inches down to press his lips to Jim’s in what was meant to be a quick, fleeting kiss. It lasted longer than that, though, and when they finally pulled apart, they both ended up meeting Keenser’s knowing stare.

He gave them a thumbs up.


	11. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wasn't really sure what to do for the epilogue, so i hope a bit of an explanation and a movie date will suffice.
> 
> thanks for all the comments, kudos, and views!

Jim and Spock had only been back on Earth for about a week and half (or “11 days, 4 hours, and 15, no, 16 minutes as of now” if Spock were to be asked). As soon as they’d arrived, Jim had rushed for Pike’s office to tell him what had happened.

When Jim had barged in with a bright, sunny smile and a determined set to his shoulders, Pike had immediately known that he was in for trouble.

And then the kid had to open his mouth.

“Hello, Admiral! It’s so great to see you, sir. I’m sure you missed the professors sending me in here all the time,” Jim exclaimed, his grin curving into a smirk while his eyes betrayed his seriousness.

Kirk slammed his hands down onto the desk, knocking down a couple papers that Chris eyed forlornly out of the corner of his eye, and leaned in closer. His voice was just above a whisper as he added, “I just thought I’d give you a bit of information on what happened while I was on Vulcan. You see, I ended up picking up a native that’s apparently my soulmate, a Scotsman that had been stranded on Delta Vega, and his very nice Roylan friend.”

“… Fuck,” Pike summed up, quite aptly. He slumped down in his chair and dropped his head onto the desk with a loud thunk, groaning into the hardwood surface. Eventually, he pulled himself back up and glared at Kirk, snapping, “I’m sincerely regretting that I recruited you, Kirk.”

“Oh, but I make things so much more interesting! I even brought you a Vulcan,” Jim replied, the grin on his face only widening at the look of barely repressed rage aimed in his direction. As an afterthought, he added, “Well, actually, it was more like he insisted on coming along and wouldn’t take no for an answer…” 

“Get out of my office,” the admiral interrupted him with a sigh, tiredly dragging a hand through his hair. “You’re lucky I like you, son.”

Now that Pike was in the know, the two of them were spending most of their time in a little, dilapidated apartment.

Jim had previously been sharing his accommodations with the doctor before he had crash-landed on Vulcan; it had been decided after a day or so of contemplation that Spock should remain out of sight until Pike, with the assistance of Spock’s father Sarek, could prepare for the inevitable political meltdown that would occur because of a Vulcan willingly joining Starfleet.

They were mostly ignoring the occasional shouts coming from the room next door, though Spock had been intrigued by the sound of music that drifted down from the room up above them. The Vulcan hadn’t seemed very perplexed by the thinness of the walls, but Jim guessed his easy acceptance had more to do with the way homes on Vulcan were set up than anything else.

It was late into the evening and Bones was nowhere in sight. He was preoccupied with the extra night shifts that he ended up taking as a punishment for the sudden leave of absence. He had complained to Jim before leaving that he’d probably be there all night because the clinic was practically overflowing with paperwork.

That just left him with Spock.

“Jim, is the evening an advisable time to hold a date?” he asked curiously, hovering at the human’s side and frowning at the cup of coffee held in his hands.

“Um, yeah, I guess. We could watch movies or something… Actually, what about some good ‘ol slasher movies? I was talking to Uhura on the way back and she suggested a couple.”

“Is this correlated to the phenomenon called Halloween, Jim?” Spock inquired, taking a seat on the couch and watching as Jim sorted through a list on his PADD. “My mother was quite fond of it.”

“Yes, in a way. They’re movies that are intended to scare people or just be an absolute blood-fest in some cases. Halloween used to be a way to tell evil spirits to fuck right off, but now it’s mostly become a way to acquire tons of candy,” he mumbled absentmindedly, selecting a few of them after quickly checking to see what they were about. “Alright, computer, lights to 20%.”

He set up the small, outdated holoprojector that they owned and began the film before collapsing back onto the couch. He winced when he bumped into Spock’s chest and mumbled a quiet apology, but Spock merely inclined his head and pulled him in closer.

Spock was quietly tearing the film apart from the moment it began, voice barely a whisper as he made his observations while trying not to detract from the movie. Jim paid the film as much attention as he could, but he had to admit that the Vulcan’s criticism were kind of amusing.

“That was a highly inadvisable action,” Spock pointed out, momentarily drawn out of the film by it. “He did not know what could be on that recording. It is also a… distasteful action to play it in front of those that are unwilling to become involved.”

“They’re just normal college kids, Spock,” Jim mumbled tiredly, shifting around to get comfortable before resting his head on the Vulcan’s shoulder. Spock stiffened momentarily, but began to relax when the human made no further movements.

“I do not comprehend. Why does that excuse their actions?”

“They’re more curious and likely to take these sorts of risks, especially in a group,” Jim decided eventually, rolling his eyes at what was occurring on-screen. He always thought that The Evil Dead was a little too outdated to be scary, but it had its moments. The tree scene that was coming up had always freaked him out. “He did that because he thought it’d be funny. Probably didn’t realize anything would actually come out of it, y’know?”

“Have you behaved in such a manner, Jim?”

“Definitely, though I mostly did it in high school. Went into a haunted house with my friends and a couple of girls from school. Turns out I’m a lot more easily scared than I thought,” he remarked. He shuddered as the hand at his back brushed up against his skin. “Ugh, you’re cold as ice, Spock.” 

“I am not “cold as ice”, but my body temperature is certainly much lower than yours,” Spock responded, watching as Cheryl wandered outside to investigate. “That was unwise.”

“Yeah,” Jim agreed, wincing and turning his head away. Voice muffled by Spock’s shirt, he asked, “Can you tell me when this scene’s over? I can never get through watching it.”

“It has ended, Jim,” Spock reassured him after it had passed, frowning when the others refuse to believe her story. Aware that Jim still appeared to be shaken by the scene, he pulled him closer and Jim went willingly. “They did not even check her over for injuries. She is obviously distressed. What reason should she have to lie?”

“They might’ve thought she was pulling a prank and this was way back before we even knew aliens existed. A lot of stuff was just pushed aside as superstition or myths,” Jim explained, snorting at something Ash said. “Do you want me to move by the way? Sorry, didn’t realize how close we got.”

“I do not mind. The temperature is much lower in your apartment than I am adjusted to and you are very warm. Vulcans, too, have had many myths. Some are more inclined to believe them than others.”

“Same here,” Jim agreed. 

They watched the rest of the film in a comfortable silence, though Spock would still point out many inaccuracies. After it had finished, Jim patiently waited through the long rant about all of the film’s plot-holes and inaccuracies before starting up the next film.

He was surprised when Spock pulled him into his lap upon his return and thoroughly kissed him, both the human way and the Vulcan way. He pressed back eagerly, his thighs bracketing Spock’s own as he held the Vulcan’s face in his hands. Spock’s arms looped around his waist and pulled him closer.

They eventually had to pull back for air and Spock began to flush green as he said, “I apologize if my actions were too forward.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Making out like teenagers is always a good thing in my opinion,” Jim reassured him, leaning back in to give him another kiss. It was far from deep, just a quick press of the lips. 

Spock pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth before Jim turned back around in his lap so that he could face the screen. “Want to do that again after this movie’s over? We didn’t miss much. Think the kid’s gonna find that creepy corpse-room soon.”

“… Creepy corpse-room?”


End file.
